FWD (Got Caliche?) Power Laws, Weblogs, and Inequality

From: Terry W. Colvin (fortean1@mindspring.com)
Date: Tue Feb 11 2003 - 23:56:47 MST

  • Next message: Lee Corbin: "RE: Where the I is"

    CYBERIA

    < http://www.shirky.com/writings/powerlaw_weblog.html >

    What matters is this: Diversity plus freedom of choice creates inequality,
    and the greater the diversity, the more extreme the inequality. In systems
    where many people are free to choose between many options, a small subset
    of the whole will get a disproportionate amount of traffic (or attention, or
    income), even if no members of the system actively work towards such an
    outcome. This has nothing to do with moral weakness, selling out, or any other
    psychological explanation. The very act of choosing, spread widely enough and
    freely enough, creates a power law distribution. Inequality occurs in large and
    unconstrained social systems for the same reasons stop-and-go traffic occurs on
    busy roads, not because it is anyone's goal, but because it is a reliable
    property that emerges from the normal functioning of the system.

    -- 
    Terry W. Colvin, Sierra Vista, Arizona (USA) < fortean1@mindspring.com >
         Alternate: < fortean1@msn.com >
    Home Page: < http://www.geocities.com/Area51/Stargate/8958/index.html >
    Sites: * Fortean Times * Mystic's Haven * TLCB *
          U.S. Message Text Formatting (USMTF) Program
    ------------
    Member: Thailand-Laos-Cambodia Brotherhood (TLCB) Mailing List
       TLCB Web Site: < http://www.tlc-brotherhood.org >[Vietnam veterans,
    Allies, CIA/NSA, and "steenkeen" contractors are welcome.]
    


    This archive was generated by hypermail 2.1.5 : Tue Feb 11 2003 - 23:59:47 MST